


Touch and Move

by leechdealer69



Category: Homestuck
Genre: "strangers who made a terrible first impression to vitriolic friends to vitriolic lovers", Chess, Chessstuck, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, First Meetings, Humanstuck, I mean it's Solkat., I mean it's actually, It's the AU where everyone is an amateur chess player, M/M, POV Second Person, Present Tense, but let's go with that., rated for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24691531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leechdealer69/pseuds/leechdealer69
Summary: You've always liked the chess club, the quiet thrill of having a few games with an exciting new opponent once every week. Practice has made you quite a good player; you've enjoyed many neat victories, and, though your dislike of sharp and dangerous combinations makes a good number of your games end in draws, it's been a while since your last defeat. You're very fond of sturdy defences, after all.However, this cheating piece of shit sitting right here, staring at the board with an absent look and making a strange little noise with his mouth, might change that.
Relationships: Kanaya Maryam & Karkat Vantas, Sollux Captor/Karkat Vantas
Comments: 16
Kudos: 71





	Touch and Move

You've always liked the chess club, the quiet thrill of having a few games with an exciting new opponent once every week. Practice has made you quite a good player; you've enjoyed many victories, and, though your dislike of sharp and dangerous combinations makes a good number of your games end in draws, it's been a while since your last defeat. You're very fond of sturdy defences, after all.

However, this cheating piece of shit sitting right here, staring at the board with an absent look and making a strange little noise with his mouth, might change that.

He's new to the club; you're enough of a regular here to know that. He does look like the type of shut-in that plays exclusively online games and never bothers to learn the proper etiquette when playing face-to-face. His face is tired; his hollow cheeks and dark bags under his eyes betray someone for whom the word self-care bears no meaning. His hair has the slightly greasy look of a person who showers just often enough to appear presentable in public. He's wearing a plain black shirt, with a faded design in blue and red stamped on the chest. In the past fifteen minutes (you don't particularly like to play with a clock; countdowns make you nervous) he's tapped his foot against the table, rapped at the edge of the board with his short fingernails, rearranged the pieces he took from you—first alphabetically, then by size, then by value—, and now he's making a soft, hissing sort of sound between his teeth, almost like wind or a drawn-out Z.

Finally, you decide to speak. "Stop that."

The guy has the gall to bring his index finger to his lips in a shooshing motion. "Thinking," he whispers. He slowly and deliberately picks up one of his rooks. You hold your breath in anticipation. If he leaves the f6 square unprotected, then your whole plan is a success. He's up in material now, but you know that your position is better, and if you can place a knight in the right spot you'll have a nice outpost and will be able to plan a solid counter-attack.

The rook hovers over the c file. Your opponent stares at the piece for a moment, as if seeing it for the first time, and puts it back where it was. You see red.

"You cheating piece of shit!" you say, and half the club turns to look at you. You lower your voice to a whisper. "Touch and move, jackass, touch and move! You pick up that rook right the fuck now and move it before I shove it up your purulent ass!"

The cheating piece of shit, whom you decide to call Jackass in your head, looks at you vaguely. The corners of his lips twitch up in what you think is a smile. " _J'adoube_ ," he says calmly.

You could have forgiven the outrageous ignorance of not knowing about the touch-move rule—it would have been understandable in someone who looks like he only gets human interaction from the voice chat in _Call of Duty_ —but the way he's belatedly invoking "I adjust", smiling like he _knows_ he's breaking the rules and is daring you to say something about it—it makes your blood boil with rage.

"Listen here, you underhanded assfuck, you can't just ignore a rule and _j'adoube_ it away like you're a fucking cow on a grass field swatting flies away with its shit-drenched tail. Stop shitting your disgusting, smelly faecal matter all over the rules that players way less idiotic than you already established!"

"Wow, okay," he says, though you know he's not agreeing with you. His fingers flutter over the pieces for a moment, and then he uses his pawn to take your queen, who is sitting on the opposite side of the board. " _J'adoube_ ," he says again, giving you a challenging look.

You take the challenge and flip over the flimsy plastic table.

It happens almost in slow motion. The board tilts forward, then slides off the table with a clatter. Black and white pieces fly everywhere, including Jackass's face and the wall behind him. Almost everyone freezes in place and turns to stare at you. A few places away, your friend Kanaya, currently engaged in a game with an elderly fellow, visibly facepalms.

"Stop cheating and take the game fucking seriously!" you shout at Jackass, partly because you're _that_ angry and partly because you don't want the other players to think you're throwing a tantrum because you lost.

Jackass chuckles at you and puts his hands up in a placating gesture. "Sorry, sorry," he says, not sounding sorry at all. You notice he has a heavy lisp.

"What-fucking-ever," you say. Your face burns red, out of anger because of this asswipe and out of embarrassment because of the others, who are only now starting to look away. You turn around and begin to leave. You guess you'll have to wait a few months before showing your face here again. Thank you, Jackass.

"Whoa, hold on," he says. "Don't just leave in the middle of the fucking game."

You whip your head around. "I'll leave when I damn well please," you fire back. "And in case you haven't noticed, the position is lost. I don't know about you, but I don't keep a mental record of every fucking move I play against any pussylicking fuckwad that has the misfortune to sit at my table."

Jackass gives you a self-satisfied smirk. "Luckily for you, I do. Now stop acting like a little baby and help me pick up the pieces."

You give him the finger. "Fuck off."

You do end up picking up the pieces and resuming the game, hating yourself for doing so. Fortunately for your remaining sanity, Jackass doesn't mention it, or try anything cheeky this time, though he won't stop making that annoying whistling sound. You get used to it after a while.

The problem with Jackass, the reason why you allowed him to shit all over the little dignity you had left and started crawling under the adjacent tables looking for the last pawn that had rolled off somewhere (it was behind the trash can), is that he's _good_. He's a good chess player, and it shows, especially in the endgame. You will plot a strong attack, and he'll get a look on his face, like he's seeing into the next six moves and into inevitability; and then he'll play the one move that saves him from checkmate. It's been a while since the last time you had so much fun playing chess. You love it.

In the end, when he gives you a smug half-smile and says "checkmate", you're almost more upset about the fact that the game is over than about your defeat.

He shakes your hand then, shockingly not ignoring that bit of etiquette, and you blurt out a request for a rematch. He smiles more sincerely and pulls out his phone to look at the time. "Sorry," he says, and this time he seems genuinely apologetic. "I gotta go."

"Do you come here often?" you ask, and you want to kick yourself in the face because not only does that sound like a pickup line, but you're also quite sure this is his first time here.

"Nah," he says. "I might come back, though."

You nod. You're still nodding when he turns around and leaves. It's only then that you realize that you still only know him as Jackass.

* * *

The next time you see Jackass, he's playing two little kids at once. You don't him to see that you're disappointed, and you spot Kanaya sitting at an empty table behind him, so you walk past him without saying anything. He seems engrossed in the double game and doesn't notice when you sit with Kanaya.

"Hello," she says. You notice that the board before her shows a game in process. "I apologise if you expected otherwise, but I am currently playing with someone else. She went to get some water."

"Really?"

"We're having a casual game."

You look at the board more carefully. "She's damn good."

"Indeed, she is," she says, sounding slightly frustrated.

"Well, don't let her win," you say. "You're fucking great at slow games; you got this."

"Thank you for saying so." She looks at something behind your shoulder. "It would seem that your cheating piece of shit is free. If you wish to play him you may want to approach him now."

You glance over your shoulder and see that the kids are gone. " _My_ cheating piece of shit? And what makes you think I give a flying fuck what he's doing?"

An amused expression finds its way into her face, and you decide that you want it gone. "Karkat, I believe everyone present in this establishment, as well as any passers-by that were near the place, was able to hear the rather one-sided exchange of heated remarks and your subsequent outburst last week. And as your friend and someone who was also present in this establishment at the time, I did notice that you nonetheless resumed your game and parted on terms that by your standards were dare I say amicable."

You open your mouth to retort, but out of the corner of your eye, you see someone else enter the club and apparently walk towards Jackass's table. Not willing to let your opportunity slip away, you get up hurriedly. "You didn't get the last word," you warn her, and approach Jackass. You wish you had done so quickly enough to avoid seeing the smug look she gives you. You feel it's out of place in her eyes, and you dislike it.

"Hi again, Jackass," you say to him, taking the seat across from him.

Jackass is a shameless fuckwad who dares to smile at you. "Hi. Black or white?"

"Whatever."

You play black, because that's how the board is set up, and you discover that Jackass is a lazy dirtbag as well as a cheater because he says he doesn't want to change places. You don't really mind.

He opens with d4, which right away annoys you a little. You reply with d5.

"So," you say casually, as he ponders his next move. If he's allowed to make noises you're allowed to talk, you think. "What's your name, anyway?" When there is no response, you huff. "Whatever, you know what? I'll just keep calling you Jackass in my head. It suits you."

"Sollux," he mutters.

Sollux. It also suits him.

"I'm Karkat," you say, and then you focus on the game and don't say anything else because a good opening is necessary for a good game.

You decline the Queen's Gambit and focus on defending your pieces and castling as soon as possible. You think Sollux is disappointed that you didn't take on c4, but he doesn't complain and soon he's fighting you for the centre. Once more, you feel the thrill of playing a good opponent.

The game isn't as long as the last one, and after you wipe the floor with him Sollux has time for a few more games. You don't even notice when the sky goes dark outside.

* * *

For the next weeks, Sollux practically becomes your exclusive opponent, and you his. You think it's better to be well-trained against all kinds of players, so you practice at home against strangers on Lichess. But on Sundays, your mind is filled with Sollux.

You discover that he is as much of an asshole as you thought on that first day, but that he's a likeable asshole. He appears to think the same of you, and willingly engages in conversation while you're not playing, which probably means he's a lot more tolerant and patient than it seemed. You hear about his best friend, an aspiring archaeologist with a penchant for morbid conversations, and about his ex-girlfriend, who broke a world record in swimming as well as his heart. His tone is not very serious when he says this, and he assures you that he's still friends with her. You find out that he codes for a living and keeps bees as a hobby, and he says he'll bring you a jar of honey sometime. You don't know if he's joking or not.

In return, you tell him about Kanaya—who waves at him from the other side of the room, the silver rings in her fingers glinting under the cold light of fluorescent tubes—, about Gamzee, about your romantic comedies and your dreams of screenwriting. You mention offhandedly that you hate yourself once, and instead of giving you a pitying look he just chuckles and says "not as much as I hate myself".

To tell the truth, it doesn't even shock you when you start calling him your friend.

* * *

One day, all of a sudden, he tells you to go to his house.

"We'd do basically what we do here, except without sitting on these stupid chairs," he argues, and you agree that if you have to keep looking at the faded mucus-green wallpaper that someone years ago thought was a good idea you might actually throw up.

The walk is short, and you fill it with empty chatter. Sollux doesn't talk much, but he always has a sharp quip to offer that is exactly what he needs to either piss you off or make you laugh. You don't know which one is his goal because he always looks pleased regardless of your reaction. You arrive at your destination before you know it.

Sollux's apartment is dark and small, and you kind of don't want to know where he keeps his bees. He might have a second house in the country, with a spacious yard for his hives. It's what a reasonable person would do. It then hits you that Sollux is not a reasonable person, and that he doesn't look like the type of person who has multiple residences. You decide not to open any closed doors in this apartment.

You make yourself comfortable on the sofa. In front of it, there's a Play Station and a stack of magazines. Most of the covers show digital devices or strings of code, but you spot a couple of titles like _Bee Culture_ and _Honey World_.

Sollux starts to offer you tea, but then he visibly reconsiders and tosses you a can of soda from the fridge instead before taking one for himself. You crack it open while he sets up the board. There's a rook missing, and you use the tab from the can of soda in its place.

You play a couple of quick games in focused silence—he wins one, but the other one is a draw—, and it's not until you're rearranging the pieces for a third one that your host says something.

"So I thought that you might like to get a coffee sometime." His tone is artificially casual, and you wonder if he rehearsed the line. That would be so ridiculous.

"I don't drink Starbucks and you know it, idiot," is the first thing that comes to your mind.

Sollux glares at you. "Wow, fuck you. I'm asking you out, stupid, you could at least say yes."

His audacity surprises you sometimes. You start insulting him, stop, frown, start insulting him again, and finally process what he said to you. "You're asking me out?"

Sollux runs a hand down his face, groaning. His glasses clatter on the floor and he doesn't bother to pick them up, so you do. You wipe them with your sleeve and hand them to him. He absentmindedly puts them on. He hasn't stopped groaning. "Fuck, this is so stupid," he says. "Forget I said anything; it's like a bad fucking romantic comedy. Fuck me."

Without thinking, you reach out and put your hand on his face. It's not nearly as gentle as in your movies, and you pray that he doesn't think you're slapping him. All he does is frown and look at you like you just told him you hate John Cusack, so you guess your prayer was heard somewhere. "Sollux," you say, smiling. "Sollux. I _like_ romantic comedies."

Sollux smiles back.

And he's still an idiot, so you tell him so. He chuckles and you can see in his eyes that he's preparing a devastating comeback. You wouldn't wish for anything else.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you had as much fun reading this as I did writing it! It's not my best work because I wrote it in a few hours for 6/12, but I do like how it turned out. Solkat and chess are two things I really enjoy, so it's natural that I decided to combine them. I wish to have done so successfully.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
